


Exposition

by loveandpride1895



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Angst, Depression, Domestic Violence, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, Mental Health Issues, brownie points if you spot em tbh, first album shenanigans, intropsection, vague allusions to, when I say vague I mean it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveandpride1895/pseuds/loveandpride1895
Summary: it's the getting started that's the hard part.they aren't going to do it by halves.Or, four students form a rock band and decide to default an album. They come to the conclusion that it was a good idea.





	Exposition

"We should record an album."

It is said out of the blue, over dry toast and watery coffee, neither of which cancels out the other. 

Brian considers it.

_my father thinks this is daft. that of course I should keep my head in the clouds but only if I'm analysing the stars. my guitar is made of radiator gauges and knitting needles. curly hair isn't cool and looks are what sell. it'll never work._

Roger considers it.

_we're skint students. edwardian fox furs are too niche a market to fund an album. my major is agonisingly boring, but not half as boring as having no major at all. the drummer always just sits at the back and I don't want to do that. it'll never work._

John considers it.

_this is just a hobby - I want this to be just a hobby. rock stars have gravelly voices and like snorting coke, and I bet nobody ever asks them how to wire a plug. i'm the spare part in this operation and hangers on just drag on the floor. it'll never work._

The cosmic shift took a moment to arrive, catalysed by three things:

1) - the unity of doubt, perhaps close to the only unity the three of them had at that point. (except for creative processes that function like rapid-spotted estuaries that run into the same majestic sea, but they won't realise that until later.)

2) - a dripping patch of mould on the ceiling, perfectly positioned to mock them as cowards for not making steps to change their situation.

3) - the shameless, unabashed, toothy grin on freddie's face, the likes of which none of them had ever seen before - an enchanted spinning wheel of courage, _prick your finger darling, you know you want to._

"Yeah. Alright, Fred."

 

***

_Int. A studio, night._

_Four bedraggled students are in various stages of awakeness, draped on whatever items of furniture offer anything close to a horizontal surface. The floor is barely visible for papers and stale coffee mugs are dotted around. The only light offered is by an Art Deco lamp. The whole impression is of a modern dragon's den. Their hoard? Genius._

_Imperceptibly slowly, one of the students rises. **FREDDIE**. He is comparatively short and slender, with dark eyes and a habit of pulling his top lip over his overbite. Seems to be holding something bigger than himself below the skin - carries himself with an air of graceful greatness. The other students **BRIAN, ROGER** and **JOHN** watch him curiously._

_**FREDDIE** lifts the needle of the precariously balanced record player and slips a record beneath it. A breathy scratch emits as the record begins to spin. His eyes are fixed on it. As the music begins, a close up on his face. A small smirk is blossoming. His eyes slide shut. He tips his head back, hair tickling his shoulders._

_Close up on the record._

_It is the fruit of their labours, the diamond of their hoard._

_A pan to the window as the music continues softly. The sky is dotted with stars._

 

***

Queen' - 1973

Were they any other band, the album would begin as a question. Is it possible to have hard rock and melody at the same time?

Because they're Queen, it begins as an answer. Of course it is.

Re-records of Smile tracks come first and it's nice to pretend that they're just dipping their toes in. Freddie's voice gives a different dimension to the songs - simultaneously more melancholy and more jubilant, which absolutely shouldn't be possible but apparently absolutely is. He's a vessel for sheer feeling, which always laps just below the surface. At sea level are the gifts and the rounds he definitely can't afford, but for anyone that bothers to dive below the surface are gentle touches to the back of the neck and soft reassuring smiles. It seems natural then that his sound should be the same - beauty in the brash, beauty in the quiet.

Then comes the new stuff, which is a delicate balance of ideas way beyond their station and ideas that are in danger of hitting far too close to home.

The album is about cosmic journeys and treasured myths and the oppressiveness of darkness and childhood confusion. It exists in the form of veiled metaphors - some are veils of lace and some of lead, but like everything else _nobody ever quite says what they fucking mean._

 _That's part of the magic,_ Freddie thinks, when he's feeling optimistic.

Their sound is good, there is no doubt about that. And maybe that's part of the problem, their sound isn't just good, it's stadium. It's stadium and it's trapped on a record disc, except for the rare occasions when it's let out into a dank pub for a run around with the promise of orange juice and popcorn.

The album cowers at the bottom of the charts, but at least it's there.

Freddie and Roger keep the market stall. Brian starts teaching at a local comp. John keeps doing exactly what he's always done and tells himself that it doesn't matter if they crash and burn because this is just a hobby anyway. When he tells Freddie as much, he gets a playful swat on the cheek.

"Don't be such a doubting Deborah," he says. John isn't sure that one will catch on. "We're going to be legends."

 

***

Freddie does a lot of thinking. He thinks about the future and he thinks about not thinking about the future. He thinks about the past and he thinks about not thinking about the past. He thinks about goblins and dragons and spirits and fairies and _things that lurk in dark bedroom corners._

And when he listens to the album for the first time, he thinks about greatness.

Roger does a lot of thinking. He thinks about the future and he thinks about not thinking about the future. He thinks about the past and he thinks about not thinking about the past. He thinks about family and friends and parties and drinking and _faceless fists that send him to the floor under overcast skies._

And when he listens to the album for the first time, he thinks about greatness.

John does a lot of thinking. He thinks about the future and he thinks about not thinking about the future. He thinks about the past and he thinks about not thinking about the past. He thinks about school and the recording studio and the here and the now and _voices that tell him he's too quiet and meek and that he'll never amount to anything._

And when he listens to the album for the first time, he thinks about greatness.

Brain does a lot of thinking. He thinks about the future and he thinks about not thinking about the future. He thinks about the past and he thinks about not thinking about the past. He thinks about smoking and cats and planets and stars and _days when he can't think at all because all there is is grey and the space between his sheets and the mattress._

And when he listens to the album for the first time, he thinks about greatness.

They toast orange juice and vodka and remember the hangover more than the memory.

But God, the feeling? That lasts for a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! Thanks for reading!! If you're awaiting drinks four and five on my other fic (hi from there if you are!) they're in the works, and this has been rattling around in my notes section for a while, so I thought I'd put it out there as a little filler until exam season is over and I can commit to finishing off 'raise your glasses.' This is a little more experimental - I've been a bit wayward with style. Let me know if it's worked! I've also tried to stick in some little bits of trivia - hit me up if you spot them, or indeed if you don't. Always happy to explain where my mind was at! 
> 
> Comments would mean the absolute world, and thanks again for reading. Have a lovely day!


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